Maid of Honor
"Maid of Honor" is composed of the thirty-third and thirty-fourth episodes of . It originally aired on October 18, 2003. Plot Part I Princess Diana, deciding she should get out more, attends an evening party in Paris. Besieged by curious onlookers, she is rescued by Bruce Wayne, who asks for a dance. They are obviously enjoying each other's company, when terrorists drop in through the ceiling and seize the young Princess Audrey, heir to the throne of Kaznia. Bruce is about to slip away and assume his secret identity, but finds it unnecessary when Diana single-handedly rescues Audrey and takes down the terrorists. Audrey thanks Diana enthusiastically, and invites her to spend the evening with her club-hopping. Audrey explains she's getting married soon, and wants to enjoy her last night as a free woman. Later that night, a trio of burglars break into S.T.A.R. Labs's Paris facility to steal a microchip, but Batman appears. He captures one, while the others escape. He tells Diana that the burglar is a Kaznian special forces officer, part of a team that has been stealing classified weapons technology. Diana confronts Audrey, who swears that neither she nor her father know anything about it. At her engagement party, Audrey introduces Diana to her fiancé – Vandal Savage. Diana recalls Savage's involvement in World War II,In , "The Savage Time" but he claims to be Vandal Savage III – the grandson of the Nazi-era Savage. He is now administering Kaznia's substantial contribution to an International Space Station. In space, a team of Kaznian operatives boards the space station and takes the crew hostage. In Kaznia, a maidservant poisons the King on Savage's orders, giving the appearance of a paralytic stroke. Hearing the news, Audrey flies home immediately. When Diana hears the news, she flies to intercept their plane and warn Audrey, but is knocked out by a sonic blast from Savage's henchman, Colonel Vox. In Kaznia, Audrey decides that she needs to assume the throne for the good of her country, and as a sign of the Royal Family's stability, announces that her wedding to Savage will take place immediately. Part II Diana awakes in a French farmhouse after her fall. Batman informs her of Audrey's impending nuptials, and Diana flies to Kaznia in a rage, followed by the Batwing. In a fight with Kaznia's military forces, she throws a tank through the wall of the palace chapel just as Audrey is getting married. She is incapacitated by Savage and taken prisoner. Feeling humiliated, Audrey refuses to listen to Diana's warnings. Audrey becomes Queen, making Savage de facto ruler of Kaznia. He immediately announces his plan via worldwide broadcast: an orbital rail gun has been mounted on the space station, capable of firing asteroids at Earth with pinpoint accuracy – to demonstrate, he fires one at the ocean, creating a tidal wave that sinks a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier group. Savage claims dominion over all the nations of the world. Seeing the broadcast, a Justice League team – The Flash, J'onn J'onzz, and John Stewart head for the space station in the Javelin, but are shot down by the station's defenses. Audrey confronts her husband: Savage admits that he's the original Vandal Savage (and is, in fact, over 25,000 years old), and that he poisoned her father. Audrey flies at him in a rage, but is dragged away by her own guards, and locked in her room. In space, Green Lantern's ring has kept J'onn, Flash, and himself safe from the explosion. They board the station and fight to re-take it. On Earth, Batman frees Wonder Woman and, with Audrey's help, they fight their way into the control center, knocking out Savage and his henchman, but not before Savage initiates a meteor strike on Paris. They are unable to prevent the rail gun firing, but Batman changes the target to the palace. He hits the evacuation alarm. While the conscious guards and servants flee, he and Diana evacuate Audrey, the unconscious guards, and the paralyzed King. The asteroid hits, with Savage still inside. In space, the rest of the League evacuates the space station, which then self-destructs. As Diana and Audrey inspect the ruins of the palace, Savage emerges from underneath the rubble, disheveled but apparently unharmed. Audrey's guards seize him and drag him away. Diana teases Batman, saying they never finished their dance. Batman says he doesn't know what she's talking about. She smiles, "If you say so..". but insists that they still go dancing together. Continuity * This episode continues the recurring subplot of the on-again-off-again attraction between Batman and Wonder Woman that began in "The Brave and the Bold". This storyline would continue throughout and into . * When Wonder Woman is mobbed by reporters at the party before the first attempt on Audrey, one of the guests at the party bears a striking resemblance to Vilmos Egans, who appears as Kaznia's Minister of Commerce during the time of , in "Rebirth". * One of the crowd that mobs Wonder Woman inquires about the time she fought the Imperium invasion in "Secret Origins". * Audrey jokes that she won't reveal Diana has "feet of clay", to which Diana responds, "you have no idea". This is a reference to Wonder Woman's comic book origin, that she was animated from clay by her mother instead of being born. Her animated origin is confirmed to be the same as in the comics in the later episode of , "The Balance". * Savage last appeared in "The Savage Time" as a tyrant attempting to lead the Nazis to victory in World War II. * In , "Hawk and Dove", Audrey is still ruling Kaznia as Queen. Whether King Gustav never fully recovered from his poisoning or passed the crown to Audrey is unknown. Background information Home video releases * * Justice League - The Complete Series (DVD) Production inconsistencies * During the robbery, the thief reaches in with his left hand, and pulls his right arm out of the case lid before placing the targeting device in the case. Trivia * Superman and Hawkgirl do not appear. * Vandal Savage's origins are the same as in the comics version, except he gives his age as roughly 25,000 years, half what he claims in the comics. Also, he is shown here to have superhuman healing abilities, while in the comics, he has been forced to harvest organs from descendants to keep him alive for some time. * The rail gun mounted on the space station is actually more similar in appearance to a coil gun, which also uses magnetic force to launch a projectile, but uses a series of electromagnetic coils instead of parallel rails. The term "mass driver", which is also used, refers to a cannon used to launch projectiles through or into space. * On the commentary to "Starcrossed", Bruce Timm joked that their version of Batman seems to have a death wish, making reference to this episode. Dwayne McDuffie said this was not necessarily true, since here Batman did leave himself enough time to get out of the palace before the asteroid hit. * Audrey makes a joking reference to the biblical phrase feet of clay from The Book of Daniel, 2:33-45, used to indicate a weakness or a hidden flaw in the character of a respected person: * It is revealed in this episode that Batman can speak fluent Kaznian. Other languages he can speak include Japanese ( , "Day of the Samurai") and Spanish ( , "Secret Society"). * At the episode's end, Wonder Woman expresses suspicion that Batman is Bruce Wayne. It remains unconfirmed until "Starcrossed". Cast Uncredited appearances * General Wells Quotes Footnotes Category:A to Z Category:Justice League episodes